UKC

I hear this is a full day of climbing. I was thinking hiking up the night before and bivvying at the base - is this a good idea?

In reply to WillBroad:

It can be if you like to bivi in such places. Not required though.

In reply to WillBroad:

It's only an hours walk from Pen y Pass car park.

If you use the car park you will have to pay for two days parking (no roadside parking other than lower down at Pen y Gwyryd)

There will be midges.

There can be stonefall even if no one is on the crag - it's feasible to camp by Llyn Llydaw if you keep a very low profile.

In reply to WillBroad:

The only day I've ever had on Lliwed was nothing like a full day of climbing despite lots of getting lost in a slow moving team of three. It's no more than 5 or 6 pitches is it or is my memory letting me down?

jk

In reply to WillBroad:
I wouldn't bother myself. If you want to do a route on Lliwedd you can do it in a day, if you want a night out and a bit of an adventure then you could find somewhere that feels a bit more wild and remote (even if it's actually closer to the road) to do it, like Craig Yr Ysfa or Craig Cwm Silyn, or one of the high crags in Cwm Glas Mawr. I'd imagine that waking up to the sight of hundreds of people in brightly coloured charity T-shirts traipsing along the other side of the lake would spoil some of the magic of a night out bivvying.

In reply to WillBroad:

Bags of time to do it in a day, no need to bivi.

Take in as much of the topography as you can as you walk up to the base. Route finding once on the face can be tricky and lots of opportunity to get "confused"

In reply to WillBroad:

Thanks for the advice all. Agreed on going somewhere a bit more remote for adventurous times - will hoof it early morning from the pass. For avalanche/red wall my book suggests 12 pitches, but I think this is quite a meandering route up it. Sounds like a top day out

In reply to WillBroad:


yea i thought 12 pitches was unnecessary too, but we had 5 slow teams in front doing it by the book.. so had no choice.. got bored near the top and made our own way for the last few pitches.. far from the best v diff I've done. Probs best to do it during the week if possible.

In reply to Trangia:

It's worth identifying Heather Shelf (start of Avalanche, Horned Crag) from a distance to orientate yourself on the face. The shelf has a clearly visible quartz patch on it.

Apart from the Classic Rock routes, Horned Crag, Slanting Buttress Ridge and Central Chimney are all worthwhile routes. Expect to have an exploratory day out. Even if you have climbed there before, it's easy to get lost, but that's part of the adventure.

In reply to wilkesley:

Something I've always wondered about Avalanche / Red Wall / Longland's is how they were done before they were a "classic enchainment" - are there easier ways onto and off them? Could you do (for instance) Avalanche and Longland's without Red Wall if you wanted to, or scramble to the top after Red Wall?

I've never been onto that face, and don't have a detailed guidebook for it...

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Yes, expecting an bit of routefinding confusion - sounds like its part and parcel of the wall though. Rockfax suggests indicates and escape route aboiut halfway up, in case you have an epic/time gets on. But it doesn't seem like there is anything harder than VS on it.

In reply to Ramblin dave:
You can take different ways from several points, so I guess they were originally separate routes. On much of Lliwedd you can scramble at around grade 3. However, given the loose/vegetated nature of much of the rock, plus the serious consequences of a fall, it's usually better to stick to well trafficked routes.

People who come from a mountaineering background generally won't have too much trouble on Lliwedd. The climbing isn't technically hard, but you need to be confident about your ability to route find (even if it's the wrong one!) and deal with some poorly protected scrambly bits, loose rock and vegetation.

Also while it's not impossible to abseil off, the meandering nature of many routes make this difficult.